September 9, 2008

“Sunday nights I sit outside on the pavement under Mrs. Purcell’s window listening to plays on the BBC and Radio Eireann, the Irish station. You can hear plays by O’Casey, Shaw, Ibsen and Shakespeare himself, the best of all, even if he is English. Shakespeare is like mashed potatoes, you can never get enough of him. …

“And Mrs. Purcell says, Do you know what, Frankie?

“What, Mrs. Purcell?

“That Shakespeare is that good he must have been an Irishman.”

— Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt

(an interesting memoir, albeit one with a high Salty Language Index and occasionally Major TMI)